Development In 2004, FilmJerk.com reported that Sunrise Entertainment's Alan and Peter Riche planned to bring Aquaman to the big screen for
Warner Bros., with Robert Ben Garant writing the screenplay. However, the attempt fell through. In 2007, Warner Bros. announced the development of a
Justice League film with Michele and
Kieran Mulroney writing the screenplay. The film, reportedly titled
Justice League: Mortal, would have been Aquaman's cinematic debut.
George Miller signed on to direct later that year. However, the film would be canceled following production delays stemming from the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Prior to the film's cancellation in 2008, actor
Santiago Cabrera had been cast as Aquaman. In July 2009, it was reported that
Aquaman was in development at
Leonardo DiCaprio's
Appian Way Productions. Warner chairman and CEO Barry Meyer said that an
Aquaman film was in development. After
Man of Steel release in 2013, a source from Warner Bros. told
The Wrap that they were discussing future films, with the mention of more
Man of Steel movies as well as a Superman/Batman film, a Wonder Woman film and an Aquaman film.
Geoff Johns told
Variety that Aquaman was a priority character. On August 12, 2014, Warner Bros. announced that it had hired screenwriters
Will Beall and
Kurt Johnstad to pen separate scripts. The film was developed on dual tracks, although only the better version would move forward.
Peter Jackson was twice approached to direct the film but he declined both times. In April 2015,
The Hollywood Reporter reported that
James Wan was the front-runner to direct. In June, Wan was confirmed to direct and overlook the screenplay by Johnstad. Wan was given the choice to direct
The Flash or
Aquaman, he chose the latter as he felt that Flash had already been done. In November,
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick was hired to write the script; however, it was unclear whether his would be separate or work with Wan. Previous script plans had been scrapped and Wan and Johns planned to move forward with a new script written by Beall. Later, Johnson-McGoldrick was brought back to the project to rewrite Beall's script. In March 2016, it was announced that the events of
Aquaman would be set after
Justice League (2017). Wan confirmed that cinematographer
Don Burgess, who had previously collaborated with Wan on
The Conjuring 2 (2016), would serve as cinematographer. Pre-production began in Australia in late November 2016.
Casting In October 2014, Warner Bros. announced
Aquaman as a part of the
DC Extended Universe (DCEU), with Jason Momoa starring. In December 2014, it was revealed that Momoa had signed a four-picture deal with the studio and DC, and he wanted
Zack Snyder to direct the film. On January 13, 2016,
The Hollywood Reporter announced that Amber Heard had entered negotiations to play
Mera; In April 2016, Willem Dafoe was cast in an undisclosed role, later revealed to be
Nuidis Vulko. On December 12, 2016, it was confirmed that Patrick Wilson would play Aquaman's half-brother. On January 31, 2017, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was added to the cast as
Black Manta, Aquaman's archenemy in the comics.
Michael K. Williams was also considered for the role. That same day, press reports noted that Nicole Kidman had entered talks to play Queen Atlanna. Two months later, Kidman confirmed her participation. By February 2017, New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison had entered talks to play Thomas Curry. On April 12, Dolph Lundgren was cast as Nereus. Ludi Lin was cast in the film on May 15, 2017. Almost two weeks later, Michael Beach, who voiced Devil Ray, a character loosely based on Black Manta in the series
Justice League Unlimited, was cast as Black Manta's father. In October 2017, Graham McTavish revealed that he had a role. In April 2018, Randall Park was cast as Dr. Stephen Shin, and in July, Djimon Hounsou, Natalia Safran and Sophia Forrest were cast as the Fisherman King, Fisherman Queen, and Fisherman Princess, respectively. In November 2018, it was revealed that Julie Andrews had a voice role. A majority of the film was shot at
Village Roadshow Studios in
Gold Coast, Queensland, with additional production in
Newfoundland, Sicily and
Morocco. Between May and August 2017, location shooting took place on the Australian Gold Coast, including
Main Beach,
Coomera,
Southport and Amity Point in
North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, as well as
Hastings Point, in New South Wales. On filming underwater sequences, Wan stated that "the underwater world is super complicated" and "it's not an easy shoot". Filming began on the Lighthouse set at Hastings Point in August 2017, and ended later that month. Filming took place in
Newfoundland and Labrador. Dafoe finished up his part by late September. In October, Wan announced that Wilson had wrapped. Filming on location took place in
Morocco by mid-October, which included the cities of
Merzouga and
Erfoud. Principal photography wrapped in October.
Post-production James Wan's five-time collaborator Kirk Morri served as the editor for
Aquaman. Two-time Academy Award winner
Charles Gibson and Kelvin McIlwain served as visual effects supervisors. On November 3, 2018, Wan announced that post-production was complete. Some additional detail of blood was removed from the UK version of the film to achieve a lower age rating.
Visual effects Two thousand three hundred visual effects shots (VFX) appear in the movie, completed by
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),
Base FX,
Rodeo FX,
Scanline VFX,
DNEG,
Luma Pictures,
Weta Digital,
Moving Picture Company (MPC),
Method Studios,
Digital Domain and Clear Angle Studios. The visual effects for the director's cut were created at the same time as the theatrical cut. ILM was the main VFX company and worked on creating Atlantis and all its
CGI animals, the Karathen, and the final battle. Jeff White served as the VFX supervisor for ILM. For the underwater sequences, the actors were shot dry-for-wet on special tuning fork rigs designed by the VFX team, and later the bodies of the actors were replaced with digital doubles in post-production. For creating Atlantis, the team relied on the designs provided by the art department. ILM's environment team created over 200 buildings, including the signature jellyfish buildings, and laid over 7,000 buildings in districts covering almost 600 square miles for the action to travel through. The underwater ships were modeled after organic creatures and designed to move that way. For the entrance to the Atlantis sequence, the team built over 150,000 ships to fill the traffic lanes leading into Atlantis. All the animals, including the Karathen, were built by ILM and animated using
keyframe animation. Approximately 700 shots in the film required high-detail hair simulations. ILM had to significantly improve its hair simulation software due to the unique aspects of hair flowing underwater. Normally, hair simulations use guide strands to define or influence the movement of groups of hair strands. This did not provide a satisfying look, so ultimately, ILM simulated strands individually, which required heavy computations. Additionally, Wan wanted to be able to direct the hair when the physically accurate simulation resulted in undesirable results. ILM delivered 670 shots. DNEG digitally de-aged Dafoe for the scene where his character Nuidis Vulko trains the young Arthur. David Nelson and Craig Wentworth served as VFX supervisors for Method Studios. Method handled the Sicily fight sequence between Arthur, Mera, and Black Manta; Arthur's encounter with the Karathen in the Well of the Souls; and his acquisition of Atlan's trident. For the Sicily fight sequence, the team built the main square of the Italian village and terracotta-tiled roof set pieces that were backed with a blue screen. A completely CGI village was also created based on scans and documentation of the real village.
Rodeo FX worked on two key sequences, with Sebastien Moreau as VFX Supervisor. For the aquarium that young Arthur visits near the beginning, Rodeo FX used simulations as well as algorithms for the fish behavior. They created hard and soft corals by developing a colonization growth system, along with procedural stem and tentacle generation tools. They also created the environments for the Atlantis ruins below the desert. Artists used a
Lego-type approach to layer the environment with a large amount of sand, dust, and rocks, all of which would realistically give way to the characters' interactions. From there, they sculpted ruined buildings, bridges, towers, statues, and temples, which were textured and shaded to add depth to the ruined city. Scanline VFX delivered 450 shots. Bryan Hirota served as VFX supervisor. The main sequences produced by them were the lighthouse and its surrounding environment; the "Aquaman" title card that follows the Boston aquarium; Aquaman pushing the submarine to the surface and rescuing the sailors inside; Orm's tidal wave that sweeps away Arthur and Tom, including the rescue and aftermath; Black Manta being paid by Orm for the submarine's delivery; and Arthur and Mera's visit to the Kingdom of the Trench. For the title card, the team relied on Rodeo's work on the aquarium sequence and simulated up to 60,000 fish. The tidal wave sequence was realized with a large-scale simulated wave, which was integrated with a combination of day-for-night footage, blue screenshots for the actors in truck interiors, a truck on a rotisserie rig, an interior cabin in a water tank, and VFX simulations for debris. For creating the lighthouse, a full-size house with the base of the lighthouse tower was constructed by the VFX team. Additional house and dock sets were built on sound stages. A digital build-out was done to complete the lighthouse tower and extend the dock fully out into the sea. For the sequence where the camera pushes into a toy snow globe with a tiny lighthouse inside, a CGI transition was created from the lighthouse's living room set to a fully CGI winter coastline. For creating the Trench creatures, motion capture was done on set by stunt performers.
Music On March 7, 2018,
Rupert Gregson-Williams was announced as the composer for
Aquaman. Gregson-Williams previously composed the score for
Wonder Woman, the fourth film in the DCEU. The album features two original songs, the first by American musician
Skylar Grey titled "Everything I Need", written by Grey and Elliott Taylor and the second by American rapper
Pitbull featuring Rhea titled "Ocean to Ocean", written by Pitbull, George Bechara, Bianca Oechsle and Gabriel Dunn, this song samples
Toto's "
Africa" (1982), written by
Jeff Porcaro and
David Paich also being credited as songwriters.
Joseph Bishara, Wan's frequent collaborator, composed a piece called "Trench Engaged" for the trench sequence. ==Marketing==